Cloth opener, spreader, and guider.



'PATENTBD MAR. 17, 1908.

A. BIRCH. CLOTH OPENER, SPRBADBR, AND GUIDER.

APPLICATION FILED APE.13. 1907.

' suitable bearing.

ALBERT BIRCH, OF BELMONT, MASSACHUSETTS.

CLOTH OPENER, SPREADER, AND GUIDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 1'7, 1908v Application filed April 13, 1907. Serial No. 367,926.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT BIRCH, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Belmont, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cloth Openers, Spreaders, and Guiders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for opening, spreading, and guiding cloth preparatory to its passage to other machines, which include devices by which it is folded, rolled or otherwise treated.

It has for its object the production of such amachine which will economize space by providing a means of attaching the beating, spreading, and guiding mechanisms to the Walls, posts, or girders of a room above other machines, trucks, or rollers, to which the cloth is delivered after being suitably opened.

In order to properly guide the cloth from the spreading devices to the delivery roller 1t is essential that a cloth governor be interposed between these two mechanisms, this governor being mounted upon a suitable pivot which must be freely movable in a In order to secure the free movement of this pivot it is essential that the pivot should be freely lubricated and it is quite essential that the lubricant be confined m such a manner as to prevent its contact with the cloth being operated upon.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide a suitable cup-shaped support for this pivot which is closed at the bottom and preferably provided at that point with a suitable step bearing for the end of the pivot while the upper end ofthe cupshaped su port has secured thereto a suitable annu ar top plate which provides a second bearing for said pivot and prevents the lubricant contained within the support from escaping.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be readily understood by reference to the description of the drawings and to the claims hereinafter given.

Of the drawings: Figure 1 represents a section of a machine embodying the features of the present invention. Fig. 2 represents an end view of the pivot support for the cloth governor with the adjustmg device for said pivot omitted, and Fig. 3 represents a section through the tie girth showing the gov ernor support secured thereto.

Similar characters designate like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

In the drawings, 1() represents a suitable beam or girdcr to which is secured the depending frame 11 provided at one end with the bearings 12 and 13 in which are mounted the revoluble shafts 14 and 15. Each of these shafts 14 and 15 have secured thereto suitable beaters 16 and 17 which cooperate to open a web of cloth 18 passing between the same. The shaft 15 is driven by the pulley 19 and the two shafts 14 and 15 are geared together by means of the gears 2O and 21 to impart motion to the shaft 14. On the shaft 15 is mounted a pulley 22 on which is a belt 23 transmitting motion to a pulley 24 (shown only in dotted lines) secured to the shaft 25 mounted in suitable bearings on the depending frame 11,. This shaft 25 has secured thereto a gear 26 Ineshing with a gear 27 on ashaft 28 also mounted in suitable bearings on the depending frame 11. Each of the shafts 25 and 28 has secured thereon suitable spreading rollers 29 and 30 of any well-known construction. To the opposite end of the frame 11 is secured in suitable bearings a shaft 31 upon which is secured a delivery roll 32 over which the web of cloth is fed to another machine or to a truck or roller to which it is desired to deliver the cloth.

Interposed between the spreading devices 29 and 30 and the delivery roll'32 is a cloth governor or guide consisting of a beam 33 eX- tending transversely of the depending frame 11 and provided with a pair of rollers 34 and 35 between which and the beam 33 the cloth 18 passes on its way to the delivery roller 32. The beam 33 has secured thereto by means of the set screw 36 a vertical pivot 37 the lower end of which is preferably mounted in a step bearing 39 in a cup-shaped support 40 secured to or forming a part of a tie girth 41 extending transversely of the machine and secured by suitable bolts 42 to the horizontal member 43 of said depending frame 11.

The cup-shaped support 40 is provided with a lower closed end while the upper end is closed by means of the top plate 44 secured thereto by bolts 45. This top plate 44 has a boss extending downwardly into the cupshaped support 40 and nearly to the bottween the pivot 37 and its bearing in the hub 4G. This ridge 49 also accomplishes another purpose by preventing any of the oil which might reach the top of the plate from passing over the edges thereof onto the cloth to its manifest injury. `While preferably the -by the check nut 52..

.cup-shaped support is made integral with the transverse tie 41 it is quite obvious that the support -10 might be made distinct therefrom and secured thereto by bolts 50, as shown in Fig. 3, without altering the principles of the present invention.

The cup-shaped support 4() is provided atv its lower end with a threaded member 51 extending therethrough against the end of the pivot 87 thereby providing a ready means of adjusting the cloth governor vertically, the t-hreaded member 51 being locked in position By such aconstruction as this much space may be economized in the installation of machines and they may be readily secured to the walls or other parts of a building out of the way and the sqiieezing, drying, folding, lor other machines located either iniinediately beneath or in any other convenient place. `When this is done i it is obvious that the cloth may sometimes will be readily understood without further pass beneath the governor which must necessarily be freely movable and therefore well lubricated. It is therefore quite' essential that the escape of the lubricant should be prevented so that it may not. drop upon any of the clot-h which might be beneath the governor in order that injury to the cloth may be avoided. The construction shown herein f consisting of a transverse bar secured to a overcomes all of these object-ions and provides a ready means of mounting the govi f ported m ears secured on the ernor bvwhich it. may be freely movable about the vetical axis of its pivot 37 while at the same time .the lubricant used to provide this free movement is wholly confined within the. supporting bearing for the pivot and pre- 5 vented from escaping to the injury of the 1 cloth.

It is believed that the operation of the invention and the many advantages thereof description. 'i

Having thus described my invention, I y claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, the j seams combination ot a trame; a device on said r fra-nie for beating the cloth; al device on said frame for spreading the cloth; a delivery roll; a pivoted cloth governor interposed between said delivery roll and said spreading devices; a cup-shaped member provided with suit able bearings for said pivot and adapted to receive and support the end thereof; means for adjusting said governor vertically relative tosaid member; and means secured to said pivot limiting its vertical movement.

2. In a machine ofthe class described, the combination of a trame; a device thereon for beating the cloth; a device thereon for spreading the cloth; a delivery roll; a pivotedA cloth governor interposed between said delivery roll and said spreading devices; a cup-shaped member provided with a suitable bearing adapted to receive and support the end of said pivot.; a top plate secured to the upper end of said member and provided with a depending bearing for said pivot extending nearly to the bottoni of said cup; and means secured to said pivot co-acting with the lower end of said bearing to prevent the displacenient of said pivot.

3. In a machine of the class described. the combination with a frame provided with a cross tie of a cup-shaped support secured to said tie a cloth governor provided with a vertical pivot extending int-o said support; a. .top plate for said support havinga depending hub extending into said support and pro` vided with abearing for said pivot; a second bearing for said pivot in said support; means secured to said pivot cooperating with the lower end of said hub preventing ,the

displacement of said pivot; and an adjustable member extending through'the bottoni of said support against the lower end of said pivot.

4. In a machine of the class described, the

combination of a frame; a device on said frame for beating the cloth; a. device on said frame for spreading the cloth; a delivery roll; a cloth governor interposed between said delivery roll and said spreading devices suitable pivot and two revoluble rolls supends of said bar in ositions parallel to said bar and one. on eac i side thereof; and a cup-shaped member adapted to receive and support the end of said pivot and provided with suitable bearings adapted to contact with peripheral surfaces of said pivot at the .upper and lower` ends thereof.

Signed by me this 30th day of March, 1907.

ALBERT BIRCH.

Witnesses:

G. A. Mctan'rirr NATHAN C. LOMBARD. 

